| Topic 1 — Energy | Red | Amber | Green |
| Energy stores — kinetic, elastic potential, gravitational potential, thermal, chemical, nuclear | |||
| Calculating kinetic energy — Eₖ = ½mv² | |||
| Calculating gravitational potential energy — Eₚ = mgh | |||
| Elastic potential energy — Eₑ = ½ke² | |||
| Conservation of energy | |||
| Power — P = E/t and P = W/t | |||
| Efficiency — useful output / total input | |||
| Reducing energy transfers — insulation, lubrication | |||
| National grid and global energy resources | |||
| Renewable vs non-renewable — advantages and disadvantages | |||
| ★ Required practical: specific heat capacity of a material | |||
| ★ Required practical: thermal insulation investigation | |||
| Topic 2 — Electricity | Red | Amber | Green |
| Circuit symbols and circuit diagrams | |||
| Current, charge and time — Q = It | |||
| Potential difference and resistance — V = IR (Ohm's law) | |||
| Series circuits — current, voltage, resistance rules | |||
| Parallel circuits — current, voltage, resistance rules | |||
| I-V characteristics — resistor, filament bulb, diode | |||
| Thermistors and LDRs — how resistance changes | |||
| AC vs DC — mains electricity, frequency, peak voltage | |||
| Electrical power — P = IV, P = I²R, P = V²/R | |||
| Electrical energy — E = Pt, E = QV | |||
| The National Grid — step-up and step-down transformers | |||
| Static electricity — charging by friction, electric fields | |||
| ★ Required practical: I-V characteristics of components | |||
| ★ Required practical: resistance of wires (length and diameter) | |||
| Topic 3 — Particle Model of Matter | Red | Amber | Green |
| Density — ρ = m/V and measurements | |||
| Changes of state — melting, boiling, condensing, freezing, sublimation | |||
| Internal energy — kinetic energy of particles | |||
| Specific latent heat — L = Q/m | |||
| Particle motion in gases — pressure and temperature | |||
| Gas laws — pV = constant, p/T = constant | |||
| ★ Required practical: density of regular and irregular objects | |||
| Topic 4 — Atomic Structure | Red | Amber | Green |
| History of the atomic model — plum pudding to nuclear | |||
| Isotopes — same element, different neutrons | |||
| Types of radioactive decay — alpha, beta, gamma | |||
| Nuclear equations — balancing mass and atomic numbers | |||
| Half-life — definition and calculations | |||
| Contamination vs irradiation — risks and comparison | |||
| Background radiation — sources | |||
| Nuclear fission — chain reactions, reactors | |||
| Nuclear fusion — stars, advantages over fission |
| Topic 5 — Forces | Red | Amber | Green |
| Scalar vs vector quantities | |||
| Contact and non-contact forces | |||
| Gravity — weight = mass × gravitational field strength | |||
| Work done — W = Fs (force × distance) | |||
| Hooke's law — F = ke and elastic limit | |||
| Moments and levers — moment = force × distance | |||
| Pressure in fluids — P = F/A and depth | |||
| Upthrust and floating/sinking | |||
| Distance-time graphs — speed from gradient | |||
| Velocity-time graphs — acceleration from gradient, distance from area | |||
| Newton's first law — resultant force and motion | |||
| Newton's second law — F = ma | |||
| Newton's third law — action and reaction pairs | |||
| Stopping distances — thinking, braking, total | |||
| Momentum — p = mv and conservation of momentum | |||
| Impulse — force × time = change in momentum | |||
| ★ Required practical: Hooke's law — force and extension | |||
| ★ Required practical: acceleration on a trolley / ramp | |||
| Topic 6 — Waves | Red | Amber | Green |
| Transverse vs longitudinal waves | |||
| Wave properties — frequency, wavelength, amplitude, speed | |||
| Wave equation — v = fλ | |||
| Reflection — angle of incidence = angle of reflection | |||
| Refraction — change of speed and direction | |||
| Sound waves — speed in different media, ultrasound | |||
| Electromagnetic spectrum — order, properties, uses | |||
| Radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, UV, X-rays, gamma | |||
| Lenses — converging and diverging, ray diagrams | |||
| Black body radiation — emission, absorption, temperature | |||
| ★ Required practical: investigating reflection and refraction | |||
| ★ Required practical: investigating waves in a ripple tank or slinky | |||
| Topic 7 — Magnetism and Electromagnetism | Red | Amber | Green |
| Permanent and induced magnets — poles, attraction/repulsion | |||
| Magnetic fields — field lines, solenoids | |||
| Electromagnets — construction and uses | |||
| Motor effect — F = BIL, Fleming's left-hand rule | |||
| Electromagnetic induction — induced EMF, Faraday's law | |||
| Loudspeakers and microphones — energy conversions | |||
| Transformers — step-up, step-down, Vₚ/Vₛ = nₚ/nₛ | |||
| Topic 8 — Space Physics (Higher Tier) | Red | Amber | Green |
| Solar system — planets, moons, asteroids, comets | |||
| Life cycle of a star — from nebula to black hole/white dwarf | |||
| Orbital motion — gravity as centripetal force | |||
| Red-shift — evidence for expanding universe | |||
| The Big Bang theory — evidence and implications |